Local News

After honoring the 11 nominees for Shelby County's 2012 WHAS ExCel Teacher of the Year Thursday, the school district showed a short video with students from the winner's class stating why that teacher is at the top.

When the film began and Simpsonville fifth-grade teacher Sloane Barnett noticed it included students from her classroom, you could see the surprise on her face. And as it all started to wash over her, a little fist-pump and yes slipped out before she came forward to receive the bouquet of flowers and hear the applause from the crowd at Claudia Sanders.

The company proposing to build an outlet mall just south of Interstate 64 in Simpsonville will be given an opportunity by the Army Corps of Engineers to respond to letters of comment it received about the project.

The Army Corps logged 45 letters of comment during the posted public notice for the 60-acre site, and Horizon Group Properties of Muskegon, Mich., may take until the end of July or longer to review them.

With five vacant principal positions to fill — including at least one at each of the elementary, middle and high school levels — Shelby County Public Schools officials say they hope to add some diversity to those ranks.

And although Shelby County is at or better than the state averages for minority personnel in positions that work with students, it still lags the diversity of its student population.

However, finding and hiring minority candidates is much easier said than done for school districts in Shelby County, Kentucky and the nation.

Receiving a Distinguished Citizen Award, having several people speak about him and getting a standing ovation all added up to an emotional night for Ray Leathers on Thursday.

“I am overwhelmingly humbled to receive this award,” said Leathers to a crowd of about 150 people at the Cardinal Club in Simpsonville.

Leathers, who lives in Shelbyville with his wife, Rosalie, was the first recipient of the award, established this year by the Boy Scouts of America to recognize a person who has made significant contributions to the community.

The city of Shelbyville is reviewing new taxing structure that could provide a new method of financing the redevelopment of impoverished areas and other public projects.

At a workshop Thursday afternoon, members of the Shelbyville City Council, the Triple S Planning Commission and other observers met with representatives of CWC Latitudes, LLC to discuss the possibility of implementing what is called “tax increment financing.”

The Army Corps of Engineers 1-month open public notice for a 60-acre site just south of Interstate 64 in Simpsonville closed Thursday under a cloud of secrecy from officials and a batch of requests from residents in that area.

The property, located at the intersection of Buck Creek and Veechdale roads at the end of Exit 28 off of Interstate 64, is the proposed site of a 9-building, 355,000 square foot outlet mall facility owned by Horizon Group Properties.